


Wish This Never Ends

by SuperKat



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Gen, Injury, Memory Loss, One Shot, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 16:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16916574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperKat/pseuds/SuperKat
Summary: It scares her how easy this is, how well they click back into each other like a pair of puzzle pieces. Adora's mind cannot wrap itself around the idea that they will never have this again.





	Wish This Never Ends

**Author's Note:**

> Recently, Noelle Stevenson created something that made me very happy and very sad at the same time. So I took the sad feelings out of my head and put them on a shelf where I could look at them, and now I feel a little bit better.

It happens so quickly that Adora doesn’t understand until it’s too late.

They’ve been defending the Hive for several weeks against a siege that will not quit. The whole Princess Alliance is here, has been for several days now, and there’s a frustrating stalemate. Sweetbee’s castle, tucked away in steep, rocky mountains, is near-impenetrable, but the Horde isn’t giving up.

In the early hours of the morning, a new line of tanks approaches from the valley with mounted guns that are - not larger, but different. Adora doesn’t pay them much attention. A gun is a gun is a gun with the Horde.

Several minutes after the first beam of red light overtakes three Princesses in one go, Adora decides that this is maybe not entirely true.

All three manage to keep their footing, but they exchange terrified glances and look around as if confused. Adora is about to ask if they’re alright when a blast from a different canon strikes the slope just above her, causing a rockslide that nearly takes She-Ra down with it. Adora holds her shield above her head. It’s enough to keep her skull from getting crushed but not enough to keep her on her feet. After the last rock skitters down the slope, Adora shakes the dust out of her eyes, dazed and sore and shaking but not seriously injured. She can tell immediately that she’s not She-Ra anymore. Her sword and shield are buried in the newly formed pile of rocks.

_That's not good._

Jewelstar, Netossa, and Spinerella appear over the top of the rock pile. Adora, relieved to see they’re okay, takes a moment to register their harsh, angry glares.

“Horde soldier,” Netossa growls.

_What?_

All three of them attack at once. Adora doesn’t know where her shield is, and she isn’t about to attack Princesses - even ones who’ve gone suddenly mad - so she scrambles backward over loose rocks. Arms as hard and strong as stone grab her around the waist and haul her to her feet. Adora grunts, clawing at Jewelstar’s armor as Netossa approaches her, a ball of white light forming at her fingertips.

“What did you do to us?” she demands. “How did we get here?”

“It’s me,” Adora gasps. Netossa’s expression doesn’t change. “Adora.  _She-Ra._  I-”

Jewelstar’s grip around her waist tightens so suddenly that Adora can feel something crack in her abdomen. A white-hot pain through her right side nearly blinds her.

“How  _dare_  you speak that name,” Jewelstar hisses in her ear. “How  _dare_  you defile our history with your Horde soldier’s tongue. Tell us what you did.  _Now_.”

Adora can barely draw in a breath, but she forces herself to look into Netossa’s eyes as she says. “I don’t know...what happened to you. Let me get my shield,” she purposely does not say ‘sword,’ as that would likely be the opposite of helpful, “and I can prove,” she gasps for breath, and it feels like a knife in her side, “I’m not your enemy.”

They don’t believe her. Another blast from a laser canon shakes them off their feet; Jewelstar drops Adora, who has to clench her teeth and exhale softly to keep from passing out.

“This battle,” she hears Spinerella say above her, “does anyone know how it happened? How did we get here? And when did the Horde start attacking the Hive?”

“And since when is  _she_  part of the rebellion?”

Adora’s heart pounds; at first she thinks they’re talking about her, but Jewelstar huffs and Adora realizes they weren’t.  “I’m  _not_.” Except that Jewelstar and her sisters joined the Princess Alliance more than two months ago.

“Up there!” says Spinerella. “I see Glimmer. Maybe she knows what’s going on.”

“Since when does the Queen let  _her_  fight?” says Netossa.

Footsteps. “Wait. What about…”

“Leave her. Let’s figure this out first.”

Adora’s world is spinning, but she latches onto the sound of retreating footsteps. After a moment of relative silence, she lifts her head, her breath as shallow and steady as she can make it, and gingerly climbs to her feet. It takes two tries - she can't put weight on her right arm without feeling like half her body is on fire - but she manages to stumble toward a narrow gap between boulders in the space where the mountain starts to rise more steeply. Adora slips inside and sits with her back against the rising slope, blinking white stars away from the edge of her vision. She’ll have to find someone soon, someone who hasn’t forgotten who she is. She just needs a moment to regroup.

Footsteps and voices on the mountain above her. Adora listens, then flinches as another flash of red light sweeps over her head. She can hear screaming and a rustling like falling rocks. She fights to keep her breath shallow and calm. Who did they hit this time? Who will find Adora here, abandoned and injured, and not remember who she really is?

Adora braces herself and tries to rise, but another white-hot pain erupts up her right side and she cries out before she can stop herself. Grunting, gasping, she clenches her left hand into a fist and wills the pain back down. She can do this. She  _has_  to do this.

“Adora?”

_Dammit_.

She doesn’t recognize the voice at first, as familiar as it is. There’s another rustling sound and suddenly someone is standing in front of her hiding space, silhouetted in the morning light, all sharp angles and wiry limbs and movements as smooth and fluid as a dance.

_Oh no._

“Adora? Is that you? Are you okay?”

Adora, tensed to defend herself in any way she can, freezes. Catra’s voice isn’t smug or confrontational or threatening. It’s tentative, probing. Worried even.

_Oh no. Oh no no no_.

“Adora!”

Adora closes her eyes. Footsteps at her side; body heat; the smell of ash and smoke; hot breath on her face. Warm, familiar hands touch her, caress her, grip her shoulders. Pain flares again in her side; Adora whimpers and the hands retreat.

“Oh this is bad,” says Catra, her voice inches away from Adora’s ear. “Adora, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Adora whispers, her eyes closed.

“Okay,” she can hear the panic in Catra’s voice. Adora clenches her teeth as her heart shatters into what must be a million pieces. She can’t bring herself to open her eyes, can’t accept that this isn’t another one of those dreams. “Okay. Okay. Can you tell me where it hurts?”

For a moment, Adora considers not answering. “I. I think some.” Her breath is short and painful. “Some of my ribs. Are broken.”

Catra swears. Adora almost smiles; despite everything, she hasn’t heard Catra swear since she left the Horde. “Okay,” says Catra after a moment’s hard breathing. “Okay.” Pause. Another ragged breath. “Adora, I…something’s wrong.” Catra’s voice starts to shake. “I-I don’t know what’s going on. I have no idea how we got here. I just…I feel like I woke up in the middle of a battle. I don’t even know where we are. What happened?”

Adora’s insides clench. She swallows hard. “It’s a new. Horde weapon. I. It wipes out. Memory. Recent memory.” She does not say that this is only a theory, instead clenching her teeth and hating herself with a bitterness she can almost taste.

“Why would they fire on  _me_?”

“I think. I think that. Was an accident. They must have. Been aiming at. Someone else.” This is likely true; Adora can’t think of a reason why the Horde would mind-wipe its second in command.

Catra coughs out a laugh. “Figures. What, did someone put Kyle in charge of it?” Adora smiles in spite of herself. “Seriously though, this isn’t permanent, right?”

“I think. It can be reversed.” This is next to a lie. Adora does not know for sure if it can be counteracted, but one thing she’s learned about Entrapta - too late, far too late - is that given enough materials and not too many scruples, she build just about anything. And Adora can’t,  _won’t_  consider the possibility that the Princess Alliance could permanently lose all memory of She-Ra and everything they’ve accomplished together. Especially not if Bow and Glimmer…Adora draws in a slow breath, keeping her eyes shut tightly against the prickling, stinging feeling behind them.

“Okay,” Catra’s voice is lighter. “That’s good. A few weeks from now, this will be a funny story. Well, Kyle probably won’t find it funny once I’m finished with him.” Pause. Shuffling. “I need to get you back to the fleet. Can you stand?”

Adora’s heart pounds. She doesn’t know how to respond.

“Adora?” There’s that worry again in Catra’s voice. “What’s wrong? There’s something else, isn’t there? I need you to tell me.”

_No, no, no, no._

Adora’s breath is coming in shorter gasps that have little to do with her injury. She doesn’t open her eyes.

Catra is smelling her. Adora’s breath catches in her throat; for a moment she feels like she's going to be sick. She wants this to be over. She never wants Catra to leave.

“Adora,” Catra’s voice is lower, darker.  _Shit, shit shit._  Maybe Adora will die here after all. “You smell wrong. You smell…you smell like them. What happened? Did they capture you?”

Adora doesn’t answer, can’t answer, but Catra takes her silence as a yes.

“I don’t smell the Fright Zone on you at all,” she continues. “How long were you held captive? Did you just escape? Is that how you got hurt?” Pause. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

Adora swallows hard against rising lump in her throat, but it’s no use. She knows Catra can see her tears.

“You’ve been gone a long time, haven’t you?”

Finally something she can answer without outright lying or… Not trusting herself to speak, Adora nods. She flinches at the sound of Catra banging a rock with her fist. Adora’s insides feel tight, constricted, like any moment she’ll implode. Catra’s hands are cupping her face. Adora keeps her eyes squeezed shut.

“It’s okay,” says Catra. “You’re safe. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you, but I’m here. I’m here now, okay? I’ll protect you until this battle is over. We’ll go back to the Fright Zone, they’ll fix you, they’ll restore my memory, I’ll  _eviscerate_  Kyle, and everything will go back to normal, okay?”

Adora chokes out a laugh through another flare of pain, and suddenly she is crying openly, coughing out strangled sobs through the burning, crunching feeling in her abdomen. Everything is wrong and so many things are right and her face is on fire and she cries like she’ll never stop.

“Whoa,” says Catra. “Hey. Whoa. Adora. It’s okay. Whatever…whatever happened, you’re okay now. It’s over. You’re safe. I’m here now. We look out for each other, remember?”

Adora sobs. There’s a ripping feeling inside her chest that feels very appropriate. She gulps air, her throat burning. After a moment, she feels something warm and soft pressing her left side. Before she can stop herself, she opens her eyes to find Catra snuggled against her, her bushy hair just underneath Adora’s chin. The sensation fills her with a gaping, aching need that she’s been trying to ignore for more than a year. Catra looks up, and Adora's heart pounds as their eyes meet for the first time. Catra's eyes are wide and scared, full of worry and concern and something else that Adora has not seen since that night in the First One’s temple more than a year ago. Adora sobs harder, not caring who will hear. This is right and this is wrong and she is pretty sure that nothing is ever going to be alright again.

“I missed you,” she says. She means it. She has never meant anything more. “I missed you so much.”

“Yeah, well, you always were a pathetic sap,” Catra retorts into the space below her shoulder blade. Adora laughs even though it burns.

There is silence for a moment as Adora regains her composure. She’s still unconvinced that she's not having a very vivid dream. It scares her how easy this is, how well they click back into each other like a pair of puzzle pieces. Her mind cannot wrap itself around the idea that they will never have this again.

Adora is not sure how long the silence lasts. She knows she never wants this to end, dreads the inevitable moment when it will. She feels like a liar, a thief. She is the worst friend in the world.

Catra notices the sound outside their hiding space before Adora does. Her whole body tenses; she’s on her feet in a millisecond and the impression her body left in Adora’s side feels cold and bare. Neither of them says a word; silently, her movements as graceful as a dancer’s, Catra steps over Adora’s legs and stands at the opening of the crevice, her claws extended. Adora can hear her growling softly. 

“Adora?”

_Shit. No, no,_  no _._

Glimmer is approaching them from the front. She sees Catra and her eyes narrow. She raises her hands as if preparing to fight, while Adora silently and desperately tries to meet her gaze.

“Try it, Princess,” Catra snarls, her fingers flexing. “You want Adora? You want your prisoner, back? You’ll have to go through me.”

“What?” Glimmer stops, confused. She looks at Adora, who taps her temple and makes a swiping motion across her forehead. Glimmer looks back at Catra. Adora has no idea if she understands.

One second later, Catra attacks. She runs at Glimmer, one hand raised, growling. Glimmer vanishes just before Catra reaches her. Catra, not expecting this, stumbles down the mountainside, the force of her movement yanking her forward, off her feet, and out of sight. Adora flinches at the sound of her scream, but she doesn’t see what happens to Catra after that, because Glimmer is at her side, gripping her shoulders and teleporting her somewhere far away.

 

* * *

 

“The weapon,” Adora rasps, looking between Bow and Glimmer as they grip her shoulders to hold her still. “It. It does something. To people’s memory. They…”

“It’s okay,” says Bow, “We know. We found Netossa, Spinerella, and Jewelstar. They’re safe in the Hive. Queen Angella knows of a Princess who can fix them. No one else has been hit. The Horde fired at Glimmer and me while we were fighting Catra, but,” he smiles at Glimmer, “we got out of the way. We managed to disable the cannon, and the Horde is retreating even now.”

“Catra,” Adora gasps. She hasn’t processed anything after the sound of her best friend’s name. “They hit her.”

“Oh.” Bow pauses for a moment. His face falls. “Oh.”

“I need to know. If she’s okay,” says Adora, fighting to sit up. Bow and Glimmer let her, but they keep their hands on her arms. Bow is holding her right arm across her chest, which helps to ease the pain in her ribcage. “You don’t understand. She thinks you’ve. Captured me. She’ll be. Worried sick. I can’t. I can’t do that to her. Again.”

Bow and Glimmer exchange glances before helping Adora to her feet. She leans heavily on them as they take a few steps forward.

They’re overlooking the valley where the Horde is retreating, leaving a trail of rocks and tracks and downed trees in its wake. Entrapta is crouching atop one of the larger tanks at the back of the procession, tinkering with its canon as if nothing is wrong.  

Catra is running toward them from the edge of the valley.  As Adora looks on, Entrapta fires something that looks like one of the Horde’s tasers, except instead of bolt of green electricity, it engulfs Catra in a warm yellow glow. She freezes, the light fades, and she stands as still as stone. Adora’s heart pounds. She’s too far away to see Catra’s face.

A few seconds pass, and Adora hears a roar like a wail, rising around them even from so far away, loud and hoarse and laced with anger and something else that Adora can’t identify even though it rips through her, tearing her insides apart. Catra looks like she’s going to attack, but Scorpia steps in her way, wrapping her arms around Catra’s and holding her still. They struggle for a moment before Catra’s knees give way and she falls to the ground, taking Scorpia with her. Both of them kneel for a moment, swaying. Over the sound of the tanks, Adora can just barely hear Catra’s sobs.

After another minute, Adora looks away. Every muscle in her body feels heavy. She wants to sleep for a month.

“Let’s go,” she says.


End file.
